There is a Shocking Similarity Between The Brains of People And Octopuses

There's a Surprising Similarity Between The Brains of Humans And Octopuses - ScienceAlert

An octopus. (Laurent Davoust/EyeEm/Getty Photos)

Scientists have already established that octopuses are smarter than your common invertebrate, however a brand new discovery suggests one of many explanation why: a particular molecular analogy with the human mind.

Each the human genome and the octopus genome include a excessive variety of ‘leaping genes’ or transposons, that are in a position to duplicate themselves or transfer across the genome. Whereas they are not all energetic, these transposons are seen as uncooked supplies for evolutionary processes.

In a brand new examine, transposons belonging to the LINE (Lengthy Interspersed Nuclear Parts) household have been found within the a part of the octopus mind that handles cognitive skills – an analogous spot to the place they are often discovered within the human mind.

“I actually jumped on the chair when, beneath the microscope, I noticed a really sturdy sign of exercise of this ingredient within the vertical lobe, the construction of the mind which within the octopus is the seat of studying and cognitive skills, similar to the hippocampus in people,” says biologist Giovanna Ponte from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn analysis institute in Italy.

Latest analysis has revealed how LINE transposons are rigorously regulated within the human mind, and the pondering is that they are linked to studying and reminiscence – partly as a result of they’re most energetic within the hippocampus, the place studying processes are managed from.

By discovering these leaping genes in the identical spot within the brains of two octopus species – the frequent octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and the Californian octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) – the researchers suppose they might have discovered a key cause behind the excessive intelligence exhibited by these marine creatures.

Whereas transposons are identified to make use of molecular copy-and-paste and cut-and-paste mechanisms, the examine suggests that there’s extra occurring right here – that there is a direct relationship to the complexity of the nervous system, together with the mind.

“The invention of a component of the LINE household, energetic within the mind of the 2 octopuses species, could be very important as a result of it provides assist to the concept these components have a particular perform that goes past copy-and-paste,” says computational genomicist Remo Sanges from the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati analysis institute in Italy.

What’s extra, the researchers suppose that we might be an instance of convergent evolution: when comparable traits develop independently in fully unrelated species, and supply the identical adaptation, which on this case is superior cognitive skills.

Scientists proceed to search out evolutionary methods and neurological responses that make octopuses stand out amongst invertebrates, and which make them extra like mammals when it comes to the construction and the exercise of the mind.

“The mind of the octopus is functionally analogous in a lot of its traits to that of mammals,” says biologist Graziano Fiorito from Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn.

“For that reason, additionally, the recognized LINE ingredient represents a really attention-grabbing candidate to check to enhance our data on the evolution of intelligence.”

The analysis has been printed in BMC Biology.


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